1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a releasably attaching and detaching device for a contaminant collecting receptacle of a cyclone separator. More specifically, the present invention relates to a releasably attaching and detaching device having a lever member that is vertically movable according to the movement of a guide member, formed at a motor cover, and surrounding a sealing member so that a contaminant collecting receptacle is releasably attached and detached to and from a cyclone separator.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a cyclone separator centrifugally separates contaminants from air drawn into a vacuum cleaner, in which dust, dirt and contaminants are entrained, and discharges cleaned air. The cyclone separator includes a contaminant collecting receptacle, which collects the separated contaminants, and which is detachably coupled to the cyclone separator.
In attaching the contaminant collecting receptacle to the cyclone separator, the contaminant collecting receptacle is latched to the cyclone separator and is detached by using a handle formed on the contaminant collecting receptacle, which may be in the form of a drawer handle. The receptacle may generally have a construction and operation similar to that of a drawer.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the cyclone separator applying the conventional mechanism having a configuration of a drawer for attaching and detaching the contaminant colleting receptacle by means of a handle. Referring to FIG. 1, a vacuum cleaner, having the conventional cyclone separator and the contaminant collecting receptacle having the configuration of a drawer for attachment and detachment, includes a cleaner body 50, shown by a broken line, and a brush 43 through which dust and dirt on a surface to be cleaned are drawn in with the air.
The cleaner body 50 includes a cyclone separator 30, a contaminant collecting receptacle 40, attachable to and detachable from the cyclone separator 30, and a motor 41 that generates a suction force for drawing air into the vacuum cleaner.
The cyclone separator 30 includes a grill 37 disposed in a cyclone body 28 to provide a first means to filter the contaminants.
An air inlet 31 is formed adjacent a side of the cyclone body 28, through which the dust-laden air is drawn in, and an air outlet 32 is formed adjacent the top or a side, through which the cleaned air is discharged. The air inlet 31 is in fluid communication with the brush 43 through a flexible hose 45. The cyclone separator 30 is well known to those skilled in the art and thus a detailed description of the cyclone separator 30 will be omitted for the sake of brevity.
A filter 29 is interposed between the grill 37 and the air outlet 32.
The contaminant collecting receptacle 40 is releasably latched to the cyclone body 28 by an appropriate latching member 34. A knob 39 is formed at an outer side of the contaminant collecting receptacle 40, so that once the collecting receptacle 40 is unlatched, it can be withdrawn from the cyclone body as if it were a drawer.
The air outlet 32 is in fluid communication with the motor 41 in the cleaner body 50 through a communication pipe 35.
The operation of the vacuum cleaner having the conventional cyclone separator 30 and the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 as configured and shaped above is described below.
When the motor 41 in the cleaner body 50 is switched on,it generates a suction force, and air containing dust and dirt collected from the surface to be cleaned is drawn in through the brush 43. The air flows into the cyclone body 28 via the flexible hose 45 and the inlet 31 directs the air into the cyclone body 28 in a direction tangential to the wall thereof.
The drawn in air thus forms a whirling air stream, and contaminants and dust are separated from the whirling air by centrifugal force and are collected into the contaminant collecting receptacle 40.
The air, from which contaminants have been removed, is discharged to the air outlet 32, first passing through the grill 37 and the filter 29. The grill 37 additionally separates fine dust from the clean air to prevent the fine dust from discharging out of the outlet 32.
The cleaned air discharged through the air outlet 32 flows to the motor 41 through the communication pipe 35 and is discharged to the outside environment through a discharging grill 55 formed at a wall of the cleaner body 50.
When a predetermined amount of contaminants has been collected in the contaminant collecting receptacle 40, the vacuum cleaner user detaches the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 from the cyclone body 28 using the latching member 34. By gripping the knob 39 connected to the contaminant collecting receptacle 40, the user can detach the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 from the cyclone body 28 and from the cleaner body 50 as if sliding out a drawer. After disposing of the contaminants, the user re-attaches the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 to the cyclone body 28 and the cleaner body 50 for further cleaning operation.
In detaching the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 from the cyclone body 28 and the cleaner body 50 as if sliding out a drawer, several problems may occur, as described below.
After the contaminants are separated from the whirling air in the cyclone 28 and are collected in the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 to exceed a predetermined threshold amount, it becomes difficult to attach to and detach the contaminant collecting receptacle 40 from the cyclone body 28 when only using the knob 39 formed at the contaminant collecting receptacle 40.
While attaching or detaching the contaminant collecting receptacle 40, the collected contaminants can spill over from the receptacle, thus to dirty the user's hand or clothes and to cause other sanitary problems.
In view of the air flow path, the suction force generated in the motor 41 is not directly transferred to the cyclone separator 30, since the suction force is transferred from the motor 41 to the outlet 32 through the communication pipe 35. Accordingly, fine dust may not be completely separated and filtered from the air stream, since the suction force is reduced and the reduced suction force is not completely transferred to the filter 29 at the cyclone body 28.